The present inventive concept relates to a moving carrier which can be easily inserted or withdrawn into or from a magazine with respect to a lead frame during a semiconductor packaging process of an integrated circuit (IC) chip, and a method of moving a lead frame using the moving carrier.
Generally, a plurality of integrated circuit (IC) chips or semiconductor chips are manufactured on a wafer, for example, a silicon wafer. An IC chip manufactured on a wafer is usually called a die, and becomes a semiconductor package that can be assembled for use in an electronic component via a packaging process. In the packaging process, the IC chip is processed by attaching the IC chip to a lead frame that has one or more metal plates in a strip-type configuration. Leads of the lead frame are connected to the IC chip using metal bonding wires, such as gold wires. The packaging process of the IC chip using the lead frame includes a plurality of steps, such as a die attaching process, a lead bonding process, and a molding process.
An exemplary packaging process will now be described in detail. An IC chip manufactured on a wafer is attached to a chip attach pad (or die attach pad) of a lead frame using a die bonder. The IC chip and the lead frame are connected to metal bonding wires using a lead bonder (or a wire bonder), and then the lead frame to which the IC chip is attached is transferred to a molding apparatus and molded. During the series of operations of the packaging process, the lead frame is stacked in a magazine, and machine equipment automatically inserts or withdraws the lead frame into or from the magazine.
However, in the packaging process, a person often has to directly insert or withdraw the lead frame to or from the magazine to facilitate inspections and experiments on the IC chip or the packaging process. Accordingly, a person holds the lead frame in their hand for an extended period of time, causing the lead frame to deform due to stress applied on the lead frame. Consequently, the metal bonding wires may sag due to the lead frame being held outside the magazine.
Moreover, as electronic products such as portable electronic products, are becoming lighter and thinner, and the requirements for miniaturization and low costs are increasing, the thickness of the lead frame is becoming thinner, the metal bonding wires are becoming thinner, and the lengths, i.e., spans, of the metal bonding wires are becoming longer. Also, the pitch between electrodes in the IC chip is becoming smaller, and a distance between leads in the lead frame is also being reduced to provide high-quality electrical input/output (I/O) characteristics. Accordingly, when the lead frame is manually inserted or withdrawn into or from the magazine, the adverse effects of metal bonding wire sagging and lead frame deformation can increase.